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The goats, even the ram, are so gentle that the Carrolls allow their 3-year-old granddaughter Brooke to feed and pet them.

“You must be joking!” was Linda Carroll’s response when her husband, Jones, first mentioned getting goats.

That was in 1995 and hundreds of goats ago. “Jones took me to ‘meet’ a few Boer goats and I was won over,” Linda said. “The goats were beautiful, white bodies with dark red heads and large brown eyes. But what I really liked was the easy temperament of the animals. Even though the adults can easily weight over 200 pounds, they are so gentle and easily handled.”

“The first Boer goats brought into this area of Alabama were often not top quality animals. They were little more than brush goats with red heads,” she added. “This gave the breed an undeserved name

for being weak. We know because we purchased some and had to baby them and they still didn’t do well. The Boer goat was bred to be a strong, healthy animal that produced a lot of meat. After a couple of years, we traveled the country looking for and purchasing quality animals. They were expensive, but it paid off in healthy animals. Like in any stock, quality is needed to breed quality.”

If the Carrolls have an unhealthy animal, they have learned to let it die rather than keep unhealthy stock. The result has been a top quality herd that is much more parasite resistant. Goats, like all animals living in the south will have internal parasites. If the goats are allowed to browse over a wider area and are not confined to cramped feeding areas the parasite problem is greatly reduced.

“Our goats are wormed only when needed,” stated Linda. “They have not been wormed in 4 months and are in excellent condition. We do check weekly to make sure that parasites are not becoming a problem.”

Depending upon the browse and quality of the pasture, one can easily feed 5 to 10 goats per acre. The Carrolls’ goats are totally pasture fed in the summer.

The Carrolls consider themselves browse raisers. The goats are their harvesters. “We supplement in winter with a pelleted feed to insure the animals receive the nutrients they need. But in growing season they get nothing but the pasture and minerals,” said Linda.

The Carrolls have between 60 and 150 goats on their farm at any given time. The farm is 130 acres, but the goats are only on about 20 acres of the land. The family has 4 large dogs that they credit with never having any predator problems. Goats and cows coexist well. The goats will eat pasture grass, but also like the brushes and shrubs.

The meat of the goat has been studied and found to have less fat than either chicken or turkey. Most people really like goat meat if it is prepared well and is from a quality animal. Like any meat, the taste is dependent upon the condition and breed of the animal, and the preparation of the meat. The red meat is fine grained and very tender with no fat in the meat.

The Carrolls are specializing in raising animals for breeding and showing. “We occasionally have an animal that does not meet our standards and we sell them for meat,” explained Linda. “We have done very well when showing our animals, and have learned to judge the quality of the animal. We do not usually sell animals off the farm because of the time factor involved.”

The Carrolls have between 60 and 150 Boer goats on the farm at any given time.

The Carrolls have a production sale each year in Brundidge to reduce the size of their herd. The goats have twins and often triplets each year. The sire of the herd is a champion show goat. Many of their nannies have won honors in the show ring as well. The next production sale will be the first Saturday in April. All their animals are 100% Boer, tattooed and registered.

The Carrolls do business with Pike Farmers Cooperative in both Brundidge and Troy where they purchase seed, fertilizer, tatooing equipment, and other supplies.